This is the kind of review that you know will probably end with telling you this is one book you can't do without, so let's get that business out of the way and say categorically 'This is one book you can't do without.' Ever since author Mike King's lovely correspondence over the last few years started to be written on the back of spent letters, hastily scribbled memos and research notes and latterly, draft copies of pages amended yet again to add or correct some crumb of information it was always going to be a definitive piece of scholarship. When the book finally landed on the mat I just sat at the bottom of the stairs and read it till darkness fell, my wife arrived home, turned on the light and was convinced I'd finally cracked up. I suspect that most readers of WAWS will already own the book and will have reacted in exactly the same way.

Several issues here. First and foremost is to express an enormous respect for the job Mike King has done in compiling such an awesome database of material, fact and wonderful pictures that have never surfaced before, particularly about the Canterbury years prior to 1967. The importance of this book on that level alone is unquestionable. From a slightly different dimension, as a believer in the sacred qualities of the printed word it pleases me immensely that this era should now be captured in a book. The music that sprung from the whole Wilde Flowers/ Softs/ Caravan/ Gong dynasty invariably engenders passion and respect amongst its followers, however diverse our individual preferences might be. Yet 'Canterbury' remains an insular, if not exactly isolated taste. It is hard and and irksome to try and explain our passion to someone who has never heard of the 'household' names of Canterbury and close to impossible when they've even less concept of the rationale behind a 'fanzine' and its network. Yet now, for the first time, there is a BOOK!! Ha, clear, lucid, concise, informative dates, text and pictures....here, borrow my copy, have a read, see if that explains what I mean....Mike King has created a common ground - a round table where the Robert Wyatt cognoscenti can sit with the early Soft Machine fan and the occasional Canterbury dabbler and the 'I like Rock music if it's got a good tune' person and the man who's not bothered about music at all but likes a good book and suddenly the whole debate and subject has opened up. The very existence of a book pushes our passion out onto a far bigger stage than any number of separate articles or fanzines ever can...

A simplistic theory for liking a book? Sure, there are dangers. A load of hastily assembled garish crap cashing in on the shortlived sensationalist antics of some bunch of sad, mainstream jesters - ie, at least 95% of the rock music publications one has the misfortune to browse through - could only do so much harm. Yet 'Wrong Movements' preserves the musical integrity and validity that has always existed amongst the Canterbury family of musicians. There are moments in our music that would have been better recorded on fruitcake if not strangled at birth, but by and large it remains an intelligent and provocative music. Mike King has woven Wyatt's story from edited clips of countless interviews within a diary/ chronological format. It works very successfully in delivering a good narrative within a book that can be returned to countless times as a reference work. It constantly reminds me of the quality of Caesar Glebeek's marvellous 'Electric Gypsy' Hendrix biography which for me, defined the benchmark of a definitive music biography.

Among the interviews there is enough objectivity for Wyatt to emerge as a very complex character; indeed, his own contributions to the narrative are among the most critical. The long processes of self-examination of both musical and political beliefs have inevitably lead to some confusion of direction. His espousal of revolutionary themes has also attracted a media attention and artistic 'pigeonholing' that perhaps, at times, has been out of proportion to the intrinsic qualities of the music itself. Great music should primarily be judged on its power as a medium of sound, not politics - Little Richard can stir our blood with 'awopbopaloombam', or Hendrix with a single tortured guitar note. I shall always cherish Wyatt's genius as the drummer behind 'Why Are We Sleeping' on the Soft's first album where the percussion melts into a cadence of living human heartbeat, or equally the mesmeric harmonics and wide empty desert spaces of 'A Short Break' - these moments indeed are minimalism in its purest state.

Of particular interest is the news of Kevin's gigs with the Wilde Flowers with 2 pictures and the extensive Softs w/Kevin information and pictures from 1966 and 67. Ayers' reflections also pervade the story at intervals and there is useful clarification of dates Wyatt actually played with the Whole World. 'Apricot Jam' (either the Lol Coxhill 'Oh Really...LP version or an alternative) will appear on the accompanying Rough Trade (?) CD 'Flotsam/Jetsam which Mike assures us will appear late July.

From a selfish point of view I wish the book shed some light on what became of Kevin Ayers' relationship with Wyatt - two careers that crossed and enmeshed to a greater or lesser degree for over a decade yet seemingly were broken beyond the Rainbow bash in 1974. Has apathy or antipathy kept them apart for the past 20 years? Do they exchange Christmas cards? One thing is certain - this book will make them both smile a lot. I hope they ring eachother up, say 'Hi' and share a moment or two of quiet satisfaction........

MW